Horrific pictures from inside the home show a mattress destroyed by flames

Bolland, along with David Worrall, 25, removed a fence panel from the garden of Michelle Pearson's home before smashing a kitchen window and two lit petrol bombs were tossed inside at around 5am on December 11 last year.

The second bomb "exploded" near the stairs, blocking the only exit to the ground floor and trapping the victims upstairs as flames engulfed the three-bedroom mid-terrace house on Jackson Street, Walkden, Greater Manchester.

During the trial, the jury of five women and seven men has heard the firebombing was the culmination of a series of tit-for-tat attacks between Bolland and Kyle Pearson, involving breaking windows, abusive graffiti and wheelie bins set alight.

Bolland, of Blackleach Drive, Walkden, has admitted throwing the second petrol bomb but denies he intended to harm anyone and told the jury he believed the house was unoccupied at the time.

Worrall, of Coronation Street, Swinton, Salford, denies throwing any petrol bombs and though he knew children were inside, he believed they had gone to set a wheelie bin alight, he said.

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